Saturday, February 15, 2014

Soundwaters Week #3 Learning in Action

photo from Wikipedia

This week I was reminded of Bloom’s Taxonomy, a term I don’t use often anymore, but was quite familiar with when I was teaching. I don’t focus much on the lower end of the scale, the labeling, matching, identifying and rewriting. I expect that the girls are going to get these steps on their own through our reading, our conversation, through their classes and their investigations. However, I get very excited when I see things happening that fall on the opposite end of the spectrum: invent, create, plan, construct, critique...

This class was about #5, or synthesis. They used their prior knowledge to begin construction of a new salt water tank. I was not in class with them (I never am) but because the frigid weather kept me inside I was able to stand silently on the sidelines and take some pictures. The girls told me that they used “live sand” or sand with bacteria in it that mimics the bacteria of the ocean sand. The bacteria multiply and help maintain a healthy tank balance. They had to make salt water, using tap water and salt that matches the salinity of Long Island Sound 22-23ppt. Gallon after gallon was dumped into the tank. The filter was attached, dechlorination chemicals added and artificial plant life added.

Now they wait. They do not have class next week so the tank will have two weeks to sit and filter and settle.

4 comments:

This looks like a great class. In our early married life (like 20 years ago) we had many fish tanks in the house. Maybe three 20 gallons and a couple of 10 gallons. None were salt water though. They were a lot of work, but picking out different type of fish and aquatic creatures to put in the tank was very fun. Sometimes I think it would be great to get some again and do some studies with them, then I remember how much work goes into them and decide against it. Hope you are having a great weekend.BlessingsDiane

Thanks Karen. I do appreciate the things that are going on here. Although, like we talked about, I think I am going to have to work hard to keep these kinds of programs running for older teens. Grace is aging out of this program but I would love to see her continue on with this course of study....